Does anyone here do voice over work?

[Vary]

Originally Posted by Big-Bucks

One more thing to add... It's about how your voice sounds through a microphone. Some people have great voices in person but for some reason they just don't sound the same through a mic. Conversely I know people who have OK voices in person but once they speak into that mic they just hit all of the right frequencies, their volume is consistent... everything!

What he/she said.

[Gentleman Jason]

Not to intrude on this thread, but I came here to ask a similar question, anyone ever use Voice123.com or VOPlanet.com or Voices.com? I'm interested in doing voice acting for animation, even though I know it's a long shot.

[SpaceMonkyPunks]

Originally Posted by Vary

One final note: voice over is NOT AT ALL about having a great sounding voice. It IS ALL about acting skills. IF you don't get acting training, you will not succeed in the industry. Nobody's interested in your impression of so-and-so. Even today's animation mostly requires more realistic voices with strong acting skills.

YES, this.

In animation, having a great voice/one great voice will not get you work. Animation voice actors need to be able to play a plethora of characters, all of which have to be unique. The only v/o people who get hired for the sound of their own voice are people who are already celebrities - IE well-known actors.

[Vary]

Exactly what SpaceMonkeyPunks said. (awesome name!)

In order to do animation, you need to live in Los Angeles. Animation is the genre that still usually requires your physical presence in the studio. Most other genres are done in your home studio.

Competition in animation is fierce. You have to be a great actor. You have to have a roster of characters that you've created. And by that I don't mean just voices. I mean fully developed characters--you know their name, personality, likes and dislikes, where they live, age, everything. The voice is one facet of those characters. If you're coming to the game with only a bunch of voices that aren't fully developed characters, you'll sound flat and fake compared to the people who come in, read a character description, and pull a character from their roster who best fits that description, perhaps with only some minor tweaks like pitch or a slight mouth change or such. You MUST be an actor. You MUST train in animation voice acting with reputable coaches.

And if you plan to do animation, you MUST spend the money on a killer demo. As I said, competition is fierce, and if you do your animation demo on the cheap, it'll be tossed out within the magical "first seven seconds." This is not an exaggeration. If you're not willing to pay for someone of the caliber of Chuck Duran (meaning anywhere from 1800 and 2500 bucks), then you need to find another line of work. Because it costs money to be equipped and professional enough to play with the big boys in the top tier.

Trying to break into animation through the pay-to-play sites is, to be frank, not gonna happen. You might get small startup projects there, and there's nothing wrong with that, I personally enjoy collaborating on new projects with writers and animators, but you will not create a full-time, sustaining animation career through P2P sites. The studios don't cast from P2P, they cast through agents (go listen to the pro demos on VoiceBank to get an idea of what your competition will sound like).

The practices of the P2P sites are a very controversial subject among voice actors right now. It's been rather explosive as of late. I suggest you really research into it before committing yourself to any of them. If you do some googling, you're likely to find several blogs and discussions about the situation. Study the whole thing before you make a decision whether or not to pay for the service. Just know this: they are not agents. They are not entitled to a portion of what the client pays you. And double-check on multiple sites to see what the pay is for a particular job for which you want to audition--whether that figure is consistent from site to site. It's come to light that certain sites are telling VAs that a job pays only a couple hundred, when it in fact pays as much as 12-1400. And when the client is contacted, they confirm the higher figure. So where is that extra money going? The answers given thus far are not satisfactory. As I said, they are not agents. They are not licensed as agents. They do not have the right to take a portion of your money. But it's not stopping some of them.

Animation is the brass ring for most voice actors. And it takes a level of dedication that a lot of people can't, or won't, stick with. For most voice actors, it takes at least two years to take off in the industry. In any genre. To "make it" in animation takes a lot of focus, a lot of money, a LOT of your time, and a lot of determination, because it is TOUGH. Very tough. Crazy tough. You have to have an agent to have a career in animation VO. And there's a mantra to remember: your agent gets ten percent, which means you have to do 90 percent of the work. VO is a business. In which you are the owner, the product, and the company. That means you have to operate as a business. You spend far more time marketing yourself than you do in the booth recording for clients for the first few years of your career (longer for a lot of people). There is a lot to the business of voice acting that doesn't involve being in the booth (and plenty that involves being in there practicing when you're not actively booking). You have to market, do the books, market, study, train, practice, market (sensing a trend?).

Sorry if this discourages anyone, but it's the nature of the industry. Not saying folks shouldn't try. It requires a helluva lot of perseverance and resources to make it, but if you have the acting chops and the drive to see it through, go for it. It's not easy, but man, is it ever fun.

[Vary]

Originally Posted by SpaceMonkyPunks

YES, this.

In animation, having a great voice/one great voice will not get you work. Animation voice actors need to be able to play a plethora of characters, all of which have to be unique. The only v/o people who get hired for the sound of their own voice are people who are already celebrities - IE well-known actors.

This is actually less true now...your animation demo must include your own voice. The current trend in animation is toward more realistic voices, so you have to do at least one character with your own voice. You do, however, still need to have a roster of fully-realized characters in your pocket along with your own voice.

[believe007]

Originally Posted by Vary

All true. You need to get plugged into the VO community (which really is nationwide now with so much of it happening via the internet).

For those who are interested, here are a couple of places to start looking (and you don't have to live in Los Angeles):

Edge Studio (edgestudio.com), based in NYC, but has a ton of resources, including weekly talks, private study, emails with informative articles, and a great database of practice scripts.

The VO Peeps founded by Anne Ganguzza (vopeeps.com) is based in Orange County, but all workshops allow for a certain number of live internet participants. Workshops are with some of the top folks in the industry. If you live in L.A. or OC, join the Peeps and attend the meetups and workshops in person. Anne is also THE person to learn how to market yourself in the voice over industry.

Pat Fraley (patfraleyteaches.com) has not only great workshops in L.A. and NYC, but his online courses are fantastic resources. His approach to teaching technique is so ridiculously practical, but it really does give you an edge when approaching copy for everything for audiobooks to videogames.

Also, start watching the vlog that everyone in the industry watches: VO Buzz Weekly with Chuck Duran and Stacy Aswad. Everyone who's anyone is interviewed on their weekly YouTube show. They're about to do a live taping of their 200th episode this week in NoHo, and we're all turning out for the party. You will learn a LOT from their show (and they do the best animation demos in the biz, hands down.)

Look for folks like Bob Bergen, Pat Fraley, Rob Paulsen, Richard Horvitz and other top VAs doing workshops around the country. They all go to other cities besides L.A. and NYC.

Some must-read books: "V-OH!" by Marc Cashman, "Sound Advice" by Dan Friedman, "Voice Over Legal" by Robert Sciglimpaglia, any of Harlan Hogan's books, and the most important: "Making Money in your PJs" by Paul Strikwerda--warning: this one pulls no punches. It's an unvarnished looks at what it takes to survive as a freelance voice actor.

One final note: voice over is NOT AT ALL about having a great sounding voice. It IS ALL about acting skills. IF you don't get acting training, you will not succeed in the industry. Nobody's interested in your impression of so-and-so. Even today's animation mostly requires more realistic voices with strong acting skills. To break into the industry takes a BIG investment of both time and money. While there are some things you can do more cheaply at the start and upgrade as you make money, for the most part, you need to invest in the best quality you can, in training (especially!), in equipment, in marketing. And STUDY, STUDY, STUDY. Research the industry, the areas you're interested in (commercial, audiobook, animation, video game, narration, industrial, etc.), the people involved (casting directors, agents, directors, studios, actors). You need to know the industry to be able to navigate it.

If you're looking to get into voice acting, start with the above. Nevermind agents and stuff--I guarantee you that you are nowhere near ready to worry about that. Get connected, and start learning. The more you learn, the more you'll realize how much more you need to learn! And somewhere down the road, you'll be ready to take the steps, make your professional demos, and go for it!

This post is exactly what I needed!
I really appreciate this goldmine of info so thanks, Vary

One of my friends (he does all kinds of film work) just gave me the
info on a private acting teacher that he used....
So the acting classes are already on their way.
I also love the book suggestions- heading out to get those today

Studying is my specialty..... this will be a new endeavor for me.....
Can't wait

[SpaceMonkyPunks]

Originally Posted by Vary

This is actually less true now...your animation demo must include your own voice. The current trend in animation is toward more realistic voices, so you have to do at least one character with your own voice. You do, however, still need to have a roster of fully-realized characters in your pocket along with your own voice.

I kind of have to disagree. I think that's the current trend for general audience/prime time shows (aka Bob's Burgers/etc.) But not for family/6-11/pre-K stuff. (At least, that's certainty not what my studio has been casting? We do mostly kids stuff.)

To the OP, good luck.

[Vary]

Originally Posted by SpaceMonkyPunks

I kind of have to disagree. I think that's the current trend for general audience/prime time shows (aka Bob's Burgers/etc.) But not for family/6-11/pre-K stuff. (At least, that's certainty not what my studio has been casting? We do mostly kids stuff.)

To the OP, good luck.

Yes, definitely not the current trend for younger kid stuff. The breakdown you described here is on point. A voice actor making an animation demo does need to have their own voice on at least one track, though.

[Vary]

Originally Posted by believe007

This post is exactly what I needed!
I really appreciate this goldmine of info so thanks, Vary

One of my friends (he does all kinds of film work) just gave me the
info on a private acting teacher that he used....
So the acting classes are already on their way.
I also love the book suggestions- heading out to get those today

Studying is my specialty..... this will be a new endeavor for me.....
Can't wait

Great! Good luck! And shoot me a message occasionally to let me know how things are going!